December 17, 2024
Three men from Membertou face charges for more than $400,000 worth of unstamped tobacco, after Cape Breton Regional Police intercepted a transport on December 11th.
While traveling on Wally Bernard Awti in Membertou, Street Crime officers observed three people involved in offloading several pallets from a transport truck into a private vehicle trailer. In consultation with the Service Nova Scotia Compliance and Special Investigations Unit for Alcohol, Gaming, Fuel and Tobacco, police believed the products were unstamped tobacco and stopped the vehicle where it had driven to on Bradley Street. From within the trailer, officers seized 150 cases of unstamped tobacco cartons containing 1.5 million illegal cigarettes valued at approximately $418,000. All three men in the vehicle were arrested and officers seized the truck and trailer they were using.
With assistance from Nova Scotia RCMP Traffic Services, police also stopped the transport truck as it was traveling out of the area on Highway 125 and gathered additional information to assist with the investigation.
Leonard Stephen Francis (40), Maurice Alexander Doucette (43) and Justin Leonard George Cox (36) are each charged under the Criminal Code with Possession, Transportation or Delivery of Tobacco that is unstamped and under the Nova Scotia Revenue Act with Transporting Tobacco without a Bill of Lading. Francis is also charged with Possession of Property Obtained by Crime. They were all released on Promise to Appear in Sydney Provincial Court on January 22, 2025.
The tobacco was turned over to the Service Nova Scotia Compliance and Special Investigations Unit, where further charges for possession of illegal tobacco under the Revenue Act are pending.
